Monday Morning Meanderings {In Which I Talk Thanksgiving and Kitchen Updates and Sunday Snapshots)

So here we are, on Monday of Thanksgiving week (!!), and I am wondering how in the world it could be that time again. Is it me, or is November really the shortest month of the year? Once Kati's birthday arrives (November 2nd)...BOOM...it's Christmas! How does that happen? 

This will be our first Thanksgiving celebrated at Pineapple House and I'm so excited! You may recall that at The Farmhouse, we rearranged entire rooms for Thanksgiving. The dining room table came into the big farmhouse kitchen and the love seat and school desk went into the small dining room. Last year, we brought in a folding table too, and we actually had three big tables in our kitchen to accommodate our group of 24. We loved having everyone in one room and it was worth all of the trouble. 

Last year's three tables

But Pineapple House has the dining room/living room that flow together (one of the things that drew us to this house!) and we are planning on having one looooong table.

Last night, we had a planning session/dress rehearsal. What tables? Tablecloths? Do we have enough cloth napkins? Do we have enough chairs? Who will sit where? Which dishes? How to decorate the tables?

Experimentation!

We are thinking about the Grandmother Dishes with creamy white and green accessories, and we haven't "ironed" out all of the details yet (and, yes, some true ironing is needed!), but the real adornments will be the beautiful and thankful faces around the table!

A few weeks ago, I told you about our plans for the kitchen.  Well, we have been working on it a little bit at a time. Ron has not had days off, but we have been taking available evenings and parts of Saturdays to remove the wallpaper, prep the walls, and paint. Over the weekend, we finished painting the entry/island area of the kitchen, as well as the wall that flows into the hallway. (Painting the cabinets will come later, perhaps this winter.) This completes all of the painting that we will do until after the holidays.

The color is a grey-green-tan. There is a long story behind it (isn't there always a paint color story?!), and it is not exactly what I thought I chose. But, in the end, I decided to embrace it, and now I love it!

I am hoping that Ron will get the new shutters made soon! (With the old ones down, I feel like I am living in a fish bowl!) And we are still hunting for the right chandelier to replace the stained glass one. But I am very pleased with our progress. Having that one section of the kitchen "quieted" makes the whole room feel fresher.

Here are a few pictures of the newly painted space, but I have to say that it looks much better in person. The amount of light that is streaming in through those windows makes it difficult to read the true colors. (I'll try again once Ron gets those shutters made; they should diffuse some of that light.)

And now, a few of my favorite shots from yesterday's family gathering...

Please excuse the tilted view, but I was scrambling to capture the moment as Paul was waving to Papa who was sitting at the opposite end of the table. "Hi, Papa!" 

Cranberry upside-down cake with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Macie was fascinated with the sea turtle that Aunt Kati was putting on her head. :)

Kati and Alaine modeling their "camera" t-shirts while Owen is being a ten-year-old boy! ~grin~

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!